Leopardi is considered the greatest Italian poet of the 19th century and one of the most important figures in the literature of the world, as well as one of the most renowned Romantics; his constant reflection on existence and on the human condition - of sensuous and materialist inspiration - has also earned him a reputation as a deep philosopher. He is widely seen as one of the most radical and challenging thinkers of the 19th century, but generally compared to his older contemporary, Alessandro Manzoni, despite expressing completely opposite positions. Although he lived in a secluded town in the conservative Papal States, he came into contact with the main ideas of the Enlightenment, and through his own literary evolution, created a outstanding poetic work, related to the Romantic era. Read here.
His themes are mutability, landscape, love; his attitude, one of unflinching realism in the face of unavoidable human loss. But the manners of the poems are an amalgam of philosophical toughness and the lyrically bittersweet. In a way more pure and distilled than most others in the Western tradition, his poems are truly what Matthew Arnold asked all poetry to be, a “criticism of life.”
Leopardi was a contemporary of the great English
Romantic poets such as Shelley, Keats and Byron who lived in Italy, though he never had the
chance to meet them. Read here.
https://www.bellenglish.com/blog/shakespeares-influence-language-quiz/
https://myblog-inplainenglish.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-english-language-owes-great-debt-to.html
http://www.projectink.com.sg/shakespeares-influence-in-our-everyday-speech/
https://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/words-shakespeare-invented/
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html
The Oscar-winning Scottish actor Sean Connery was best known for his portrayal of James Bond, being the first to bring the role to the big screen and appearing in seven of the spy thrillers. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. Read here.
English lyrical poet, critic, and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772. His Lyrical Ballads, written with William Wordsworth, heralded the English Romantic movement, and his Biographia Literaria (1817) is the most significant work of general literary criticism produced in the English Romantic period. Read here.
Here you can download a PDF
presentation.
How do you define "nature?" If we define it as that which is untouched by humans, then we won't have any left, says environmental writer Emma Marris. She urges us to consider a new definition of nature - one that includes not only pristine (=unspoiled) wilderness, but also the untended patches of plants growing in urban spaces - and encourages us to bring our children out to touch and tinker (=play) with it, so that one day they might love and protect it. Here you can listen to her TED Talk.
The author Toni Morrison was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and best known for her nuanced discussion of race in America. Read here.
